“But he (the older son) answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!'”
– Jesus, “The Parable of the Prodigal Son” (Luke 15:29-30)
Jesus’ parable describes two types of sin – the outward rebellion exposed in the younger son and the inward bitterness concealed in the older son. The gracious father has responded to both his children with honor and love. But unlike the younger son who fell with tears of repentance into his father’s arms, the older son simply voices a whiny complaint.
The older brother views his father from a commercial perspective. His boasting about his faithful service reveals more than what it seems on the surface: he is speaking about his father as if he were only a boss to be obeyed. Now, he is arguing with his dad in front of all the party guests because he is convinced he has been treated wrongly.
Some religious people don’t really want a relationship with God; they’d just be happy to receive a reward and a little recognition. For these, it’s not about the relationship that God seeks to have with them; it’s all about what they can obtain.
When they see God wanting to be their Father and not the provider of their every whim, bitterness takes root in their hearts. They see how God has brought celebration to others, but their envy and jealousy blinds them completely to the goodness of the God they are supposedly serving. They might be physically near to God, but spiritually they are far away.
The older son refuses to call the younger son his “brother.” He says, “But when this son of yours came . . .” If the younger son had to understand repentance as accepting that he was truly his father’s son, the older son must understand repentance as accepting his younger brother as a true brother!
Many church-goers see sinners finding acceptance in the family of God and despise them, refusing even to call them brothers or sisters because of the past they’ve lived. Examine your own life and relationships. Have you refused to accept your brother even after God has accepted you?
